The Nightmare Before The Nightmare
by lady-warrioress
Summary: Everything must start somewhere. He lived, loved, and died. If only he's listened to her warning. K but the rating will go up later.


**I am aware that many people have done these kinds of fics before, you know what I mean. How did Jack die and what was he like before he became Pumpkin King. But I felt as if I should try my hand at it and I wanted to because it seemed fun. It probably won't be any good but here it is anyway. This is something I created a few years ago as a fancomic on Deviantart. Of course the name was different when I posted it there but I changed it for here to avoid any affiliates with a certain book series. Since the storyline seemed interesting enough I decided to write it down as a story. This is it. **

_**The Nightmare Before The Nightmare**_

_**Chapter 1 Jack and Sally**_

"Jack! Jack!"

Her small heeled shoes clattered noisily on the cobble stone pathed near the entrance to All Hallow's cemetery. The petite red haired girl paused at the gate, looking both ways, weighing her options, unsure where to search first. Both paths seemed to be identical, painted with the same colors of late evening. The sun would be going down soon. In fact it was right now.

October.

The girl sighed. _Halloween..._

A sound reached her ears, jerking her out of her thoughts before she could even complete them. She listened for the briefest moment. It sounded like some sort of melody.

"Jack?"

The red head looked toward the cemetery. The music was coming from there. She stepped through the gate and entered, looking around once more in hopes of finding her quarry. Head stones. She could only see headstones. Big headstones. Small headstones. Headstones, headstones, headstones. He could be anywhere behind those head stones...

"Jack?!" she called again hoping he would hear her so she would not have to proceed any further.

But no. Her hopes were in vain. She received no response but the music and it didn't going anywhere. It seemed to be calling to her. Against her own reservations she moved toward it. Now she heard something new.

A voice. _His _voice. She's recognize that baritone anywhere. He was there after all. She just needed to find him.

Pausing once more she stood on the path, listening carefully. She was used to this game. He and the girl had played it when they were children. Their own form of hide and seek. Singing... It was his way of saying, "Come and find me."

_I will find you._

She turned her head. There! The sound was coming from off to her left. Reassured she grabbed up her skirt so not to trip, and dashed down the path.

_Jack, why must you do this? _she thought as she ran. _Why must you keep on coming here? You'll never get any ideas here. Yes, it does fit the mood but the festival isn't just about the horror. There is fun to it as well. Only a few more days. This is the worst place to look for ideas._

She didn't have far to run. Within minutes she reached the area where the singing was coming from. The girl stepped around a head stone that was higher than herself and there he was. The girl paused, leaning her back against the stone, watching. Now that she found him she was no longer in a hurry.

The person in question was standing on a small hill circled by more headstones, staring at the setting sun with a wistful expression. His garnet eyes were locked onto the disc as if hypnotized by it's slow decent behind the mountains. His black short black hair framed his pale but handsome face, moving slightly in the breeze. As she watched he tore his focus from the setting sun and moved about, his expression becoming thoughtful. A small dog sat close by, watching his master patiently as the young man repeated the lyrics to the song over and over.

Finally the young man stopped and the song died away. Sighing, joined his dog and flopped down onto the ground beside him, not even seeming to care if he soiled his black suit. Then after a moment, he suddenly sat up and stared ahead, taping his chin thoughtfully with his right index finger.

"That doesn't sound right," he said, turning his head to look down at the small dog. "It needs more to it. Maybe I should change the lyrics." he sighed again, covering his eyes with his hand. "Why must I always have to write a new song for the festival every year? You'd think they'd be tired of hearing me and my atrocious lyrics. I need to do something different this year. Repeating the same event is so tedious..." then he snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea! I'll write a song but ask somebody else to sing it for me! Who says I have to do it all the time?!" he looked back at the dog. "What do you think, Zero?"

The dog barked in response, wagging his tail happily. The young man frowned, looking unsatisfied with whatever he'd translated the bark to mean. "That's no good," he told him, resting his elbows on his knees. "Even if I _did_ have somebody else sing it it would _still _sound wrong." his expression became thoughtful once more. "Something's missing..."

Suddenly Zero started barking rapidly. The young man looked back at him. "What is it, boy?"

The dog shot down the hill, leaving the man alone where he'd been. "I guess he wants me to follow him," he concluded, pushing himself into a standing position and beginning to follow his pet. "But what made him react in such a way-"

Just then he noticed the girl leaning against the large headstone. He paused and stared at her, their eyes meeting. For a moment neither said a word then the man seemed to recognize her and he loosened up. "Sally," he said turning and heading toward her. He seemed surprised to see her."What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Jack," she replied, straightening and waiting for him to meet her by the stone.

"Looking for me?" he asked, cocking his head slightly. "Whatever for?"

"I was worried about you, that is all." she looked away, studying her surroundings. She was always nervous when she was close to him and didn't like looking him in the eyes. "Why do you always come here, Jack?" she asked, changing the subject. "What draws you to this place of death?"

Jack's expression changed. He didn't seem to like the question and turned away, closing his eyes. "I've told you before, Sally," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "It's the best place to think. I don't have to worry about being disturbed here when I'm working." he glanced at her. "Remember, I'm running the festival again this year. I needed to come here to find inspiration for a song I'm writing." he moved away from her and rested his hand on one of the stones. "You shouldn't be asking me this anyway.. unless you don't trust me either?"

"That's not it Jack!!" she protested. He looked at her curiously. "It's not that I don't trust you, because I do."

"Then why ask?" he pressed.

"I only wanted to know because I'm worried about you," she clasped and unclasped her hands still refusing to look at him directly. "You spend all your free time here. Here, where the dead are buried. It doesn't seem natural and everyone else thinks so too. I wouldn't be surprised if you _slept _here some nights."

Once more he looked away. He seemed thoughtful but she sensed that he didn't like where she was getting at. But she pressed on, hoping he would understand what she meant.

"I'm concerned," she stated, hoping he'd understand. "About you and your health. I'm afraid something awful will happen to you if you keep on doing this." there was something else too. Something important that she needed to remind him about. "Didn't you hear about the murders that happened here?"

Silence.

"Jack!" she pressed. "It was in the paper! Two people were killed here. I don't want you to wind up being the third!"

Still he said nothing. She studied his face, hoping to see something that told her her warning had sunk in. For the briefest moment it looked as if he had been listening then suddenly a smile crossed his face as if he'd made some kind of conclusion. "I think I finally got the inspiration I needed!" he started, totally off topic. "This year's festival is going to be wonderful! Hahahaha!"

_He didn't hear a word I said! _She couldn't believe it! Was he that clueless or had he chosen just to ignore her? The only thing on his mind was the festival. She sighed. She should have known he wouldn't pay any attention to her. _He does this all the time. Sometimes I wonder why we're still friends. _

She folded her arms, an impatient look crossing her face. "Jack listen!" she yelled, hoping her raised voice would get his attention. "Don't just ignore me like that!"  
Jack, sensing something in her tone, looked over at her. She seemed angry which confused him. Why was she mad? He'd just had a break through! She should be happy. "What did I do?" he asked her. "Why are you so upset?"

Nope. He hadn't heard a word she'd said. She rested her hands on her hips and waited. When he finally faced her directly and seemed to be giving her his undivided attention, she spoke. "As I said, there have been murders here," she repeated. "It was in the paper. Didn't you read it? It happened just the other day!" she stepped toward him and rested her hands on her chest, over her heart. Her face held both annoyance and concern, concern for him, her best friend. "Do you see now why I am upset? I don't want the same thing to happen to you, Jack!"

She was doing it again. Why must she be so tense all the time? He sighed. _Overly concerned as usual. She shouldn't worry so much. She's as bad as my mother. _He closed his eyes and smiled as a more pleasant thought crossed his mind. _But then.. That's one of the reasons I fell for her. _He opened his eyes and turned his smile on her. Maybe he should ease her mind instead of making fun of her. No sense letting her brood over corpses.

"Hey," he said to get her attention.

She looked at him.

"Look," he said closing the distance between them. As he drew near he noticed her blushing. "I promise you nothing will ever happened to me. I know my way around this place better than anyone. There's no chance I will be killed while I'm here."

"But Jack," she said, not meeting his eyes. "You don't know.."

"We can't know everything, Sally," he said his expression softening. "I mean, we're not God or anything like that. We can only know what we know and that's all we will ever know."

She wasn't convinced. "But still."

By then he decided it would be best to change the subject. "I'm finished here anyway," he said suddenly. "There's nothing else I can do here tonight since it's getting dark. So why don't we both do something together?" he put out his hand, offering it to her with a smile. "Let's go down to the local drug store and get an ice cream soda. My treat."

_Jack.._ She stared at his hand then into his eyes for a moment without a word. Though she knew it was only an excuse to change the subject his offer was very tempting. _Could it really hurt to accept? At least doing so would get him out of here._

Then, having make her decision she rested her hand in his. She smiled at him, a small kitten-like smile. "I can never stay mad at you," she laughed.

He laughed with her. "I know," he said, closing his fingers around her smaller, gloves ones. "Come on."

They headed down the path and toward the exit gate. All the way there and then down the street Jack continued to smile, showing off his perfect teeth and and making his handsome face light up so it seemed less pale. His good mood proved to be infectious and Sally found herself smiling as well in spite of herself. It just felt good to be able to be with him.

_Maybe he's right, _she thought as they put the grave yard behind them and headed toward the living part of town. _Maybe I don't have anything to worry about._

It wasn't long before they stepped entered the main street plaza. Bright yellow, orange and red leaves carpeted the sidewalk and seemed to glow in the light of the gas street lamps. By then the moon had risen and hung low in the sky. A large yellow colored harvest moon.

All Hallow's was a great place to live, mostly because there was hardly any crime and if there were any bad goings on they usually happened in or around or were related to the town casino which Jack and Sally avoided. They did not want anything to do with that place because of its reputation. Jack had only been in there once, years ago when he went to bring his mother home. There he'd met somebody that he now tried to stay out of his way as much as possible.

It wasn't that he was a push over, he just didn't want to deal with that person even if the other person often tried to pick fights. Like insulting his mannerisms, dress, and family to name a few...

Jack shook his head scattering those thoughts and focusing on his surroundings. Since it was late October and the town festival would take place on the 31st, Main Street was decked out in all its autumn glory. Pumpkins, leaves and scarecrows to name a few items, adorned the shop fronts and even the fountain that had been constructed in the middle of the circular parkway. Plus, seeing as the festival brought in more customers, all the shops were opened later than usual including Jack and Sally's favorite drug store.

"Jack," Sally said as they drew nearer to store.

"Hmmm?" he looked at her curiously.

"Just what did you come up with back there?" she questioned, referring to what he'd said in the grave yard. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

He smiled mysteriously. "Oh, I can't do that," he stated. "It would spoil the surprise. But I will say that it will be great!" he giggled to himself. "This year's festival will be the best one we ever had!"

He let her hand go and walked ahead singing quietly to himself. She watched him, feeling his mood and wanting to join him even if she didn't know what he was singing. It sounded like the one he'd been working on when she'd found him.

But just as she was about to, a large pair of orange dice came flying through the air and impacted the oblivious young man's head. The blow knocked him off balance and he stumbled onto the pavement, landing on his hands and knees

"Jack!"Sally exclaimed, running over to him. She knelt down and helped him up. His body slumped against her and she noticed a slightly dopey expression on his face. "Are you all right?"

Jack shook the stars out of his vision so he could answer. "I'm fine," he said irritated. He looked around himself. "All right! Who threw that?"  
At that moment a voice with a New Orleans accent spoke up behind him. "_I_ did."

Sally, recognizing the voice, turned to face the person. When she saw who it was she gasped. "You!"

Jack didn't even need to see the speaker to know who it was. He could recognize that arrogant voice anywhere. "Oh," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "Hello, Oogie Boogie."

_A/N_

_And there you have it. Chapter one of my little story. I know it's not that great but I hope you liked it so far anyway. _


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